Hitmen take first game in Battle of Alberta

EDMONTON — Derek Laxdal was familiar with his opponent’s 2013 Western Hockey League playoff history.

Their experience with overtime adversity. Their emotional resilience through close games.

That had been the story of the Calgary Hitmen; the reason why his Edmonton Oil Kings were facing them in the Eastern Conference final.

So, the fact that the best-of-seven series opener had gone into overtime — only to be sealed by Hitmen forward Brady Brassart 1:44 into the extra frame — was no surprise.

“It bodes well for them because they’ve had that experience in the playoffs,” Laxdal had been saying prior to the much-anticipated Battle of Alberta kicked off at Rexall Place on Thursday. “But we’ve also performed very well. It’s going to come down to goaltending, special teams are going to be key. The team that can control their emotions in the tight games will most likely win.”

And, sure enough, he was right. Goaltending, special teams, and controlling emotions all played a factor.

In fact, his club’s disgustingly slick power-play kept them in it to knot the game 2-2 near the midway point of the third — a nice tap-in from Henrik Samuelsson who picked up a pass in front from Dylan Wruck in the corner.

But Brassart’s game-winner put Edmonton behind in a series for the first time this post-season and adds more intrigue to Game 2 Friday.

“They’ve got tons of skill on their team,” Brassart told Shaw TV afterward. “They like to go wide and they create so many plays on the rush. With us, we’ve got to try and keep that under control and put pucks in the corners in the offensive zone and just try to outwork them.”

Goaltending was a big one on this night.

In overtime — Edmonton’s first bout and Calgary’s sixth experience with it and fifth on the road — Brassart’s marker had been only the second attempt on Oil Kings netminder Laurent Brossoit.

Calgary was outshot 35-19 by the defending WHL champions and the only reason the game was even in overtime was because of their goalie.

And, no question, Chris Driedger has become a star his first WHL post-season as a bona fide starting goalie.

“We’ve been successful in this barn, I don’t know how we do it,” Driedger said of his club who won the regular season series 4-2 against the Oil Kings all before the Christmas break. “They’re a really tough team to play against. They were down 2-0 and they came back and played really hard.

“This win is huge. Starting off the series, getting the first win is phenomenal for our confidence. Especially in their barn. Wins on the road are key, too.”

On the other side, it had been Brossoit’s roughest start of the playoffs allowing only two goals on Calgary’s first five shots of the night during regulation.

It was unusual for the Calgary Flames signed prospect — especially considering his goals against average heading into this series was a ridiculous 0.97, only allowing nine goals on 240 shots in nine playoff games.

So eyebrows raised when Hitmen sniper Victor Rask walked in untouched by Oil Kings captain Griffin Reinhart and let one go blocker-side.Calgary was up 2-0 when Zane Jones tipped in Spencer Humphries’ point shot 3:32 in the second frame — on their first power-play of the night.At that point, however, it was amazing the Hitmen even had a lead.

“I don’t necessarily think we deserved it,” Dreidger said. “We were kind of being outplayed, but we beared down on a couple chances and scored some goals . . . we just need to be a bit more focused on playing our game.

“They dictated the tempo a little bit out there and the guys know that, too. The next game, we’ll do a better job of that.”

It was a motivated Oil Kings forward Trevor Cheek — who was dealt from the same Hitmen at the beginning of the season — that eventually cracked Driedger.

Cheek was fist-pumping in the second after snapping a quick one by his old teammate, a beauty after some slick puck moving along the wall by Edmonton’s Dylan Wruck and Michael St. Croix.

Until that point, Driedger had been solid — stopping 27 shots after two periods to Calgary’s 12 attempts on Brossoit.

To kick things off, he stood tall to kill off Jake Virtanen’s roughing penalty in the opening frame — the first of Calgary’s five generous offerings on the night — stopping a close shot from Reinhart and making a stick save on David Musil. He also made a ridiculous first-period save on T.J. Foster — after the initial stop, he batted it mid-air to his right. One of his bests — and there were many on Thursday.

“I think we’ve got the nerves out,” Driedger said. “We’ve had a couple OT’s, this playoffs so far and I think the boys are ready for it. When playoffs hit, we just bear down and do what needs to be done.

“It’s awesome to play on a team that when it goes into OT, we’re going to get the job done.”

Also as expected, the nastiness between the clubs began quickly.

And, predictably, Keegan Lowe started it — right at centre ice, too, much to the delight of the announced crowd of 6,327 when dropped his shoulder on Calder Brooks. Then, almost immediately after, Oil Kings centreman Travis Ewanyk laid out lanky defender Peter Kosterman.

Obviously, that offended the visitors. Kosterman, out of frustration, cross-checked Edgars Kulda while Hitmen defenceman and Edmonton native Jaynen Rissling got into it with Ewanyk and started throwing punches. Meanwhile, Kosterman and pal Greg Chase mixed it up with Mitch Moroz.

But it happened with 1:05 remaining in the first period and both teams cooled off.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Laxdal said. “I think the kids are going to get right into it. I think the trash talk is going to start right off the hop. The energy. The intensity. The adrenalin.

“It’s going to come down to discipline and controlling those emotions and don’t let those emotions control you.”

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